On Wednesday September 20th, Barbados Cricket Association (BCA) President Condé Riley oversaw a meeting with representatives of the seventeen (17) clubs competing in the BCA’s Elite and First Divisions. The meeting served as the forum for the formalization of an agreement between clubs and the Association for the provision of covers.

This initiative forms part of the first phase of the Association’s outreach, intended to upgrade the (clubs’) infrastructure and to assist member clubs in their development. Indeed, Wednesday’s signing of the agreement is a further demonstration of the Association’s commitment to its cricket development objectives and those guiding principles and ethical beliefs, outlined in the BCA’s strategic plan.

Recently elected President Condé Riley was especially pleased that the Association could add another layer of support to the national game:

“Having engaged our member clubs on this issue during the run-up to the elections in July, the BCA’s ability to provide clubs at the highest levels of our competition is certainly an achievement of which the entire Association should be proud. We recently saw nine (9) Barbadians in a fifteen (15) member West Indies Test team in England, whose performance in the series set tongues wagging across the cricket world.

“Those world class performances we saw in England were nurtured within the structures of our club cricket, and providing these seventeen (17) clubs with the resources to ensure that more, and better quality cricket is possible across the island, can only redound to the benefit of Barbados and West Indies cricket.”

The BCA President also commended the Chairman of the Clubs Assistance Committee, longstanding board member Mr. Winston Stafford on helping to realize this initiative.

“The work of the Clubs Assistance Committee and the BCA Secretariat has been nothing short of impressive in bringing a solution. I believe that this is a demonstration of the forward steps which this Board will continue to take, as we work to take Barbados’ cricket to the next phase of its development.”